Due to the increasing installed power of the intermittent renewable energy sources in the European Union, increasing the operation flexibility of the generating units in the system is necessary. This is particularly important for systems with relatively large installed power of wind and solar. Plasma technologies can be used for that purpose. Nonetheless, the wide implementation of such technology should be economically justified. This paper shows that the use of plasma systems for increasing the flexibility of power units can be economically feasible, based on the results of a net present value analysis. The cost of the installation itself had a marginal effect on the results of the net present value analysis. Based on the performed analysis, the ability to lower the technical minimum of the power unit and the relationship between such a technical minimum and the installed power of a plasma system can be considered decisive factors influencing the economics of the investment for such an installation. Further research on better means of prediction of the minimum attainable load, which would allow determining the influence of implementation of a plasma system, is recommended. This will be the decisive factor behind future decisions regarding investing in such systems.
Sewage sludge is a residue of wastewater processing that is biologically active and consists of water, organic matter, including dead and living pathogens, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and heavy metals, as well as organic and inorganic pollutants. Landfilling is on the decline, giving way to more environmentally friendly utilisation routes. This paper presents the results of a two-stage gasification–vitrification system, using a prototype-entrained flow plasma-assisted gasification reactor along with ex situ plasma vitrification. The results show that the use of plasma has a considerable influence on the quality of gas, with a higher heating value of dry gas exceeding 7.5 MJ/mN3, excluding nitrogen dilution. However, dilution from plasma gases becomes the main problem, giving a lower heating value of dry gas with the highest value being 5.36 MJ/mN3 when dilution by nitrogen from plasma torches is taken into account. An analysis of the residues showed a very low leaching inclination of ex-situ vitrified residues. This suggests that such a system could be used to avoid the problem of landfilling significant amounts of ash from sewage sludge incineration by turning inorganic residues into a by-product that has potential use as a construction aggregate.
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